NFC is likely to play a key role in the new venture as Monitise has already partnered with Visa and DeviceFidelity to integrate near field communication into its Mobile Money Manager platform.

MOBILE MONEY NETWORK: The new venture aims to be a "central, independent and trusted network"

Mobile money solutions provider Monitise has announced the formation of a new joint venture company with Best Buy Europe and Charles Dunstone, founder of The Carphone Warehouse.

The new company will offer a new service called the Mobile Money Network and will launch in 2011. Monitise will hold 40% of the shares in the joint venture company and promises “a range of exciting products and services to enable people to get the most from ‘Mobile Money on the move’.”

“The network will be an independent, trusted and secure one-stop shop for mobile services and be a place for the best technology and ideas within shopping, banking and marketing to come together,” Monitise continues.

“Every year we see hundreds of exciting ideas in the space of mobile shopping, banking, payments and marketing, but what is required is a central, independent and trusted network to make it come alive,” explains Charles Dunstone. “We believe we have the track record to play this role.”

“Mobile banking and mobile payments are taking off at light speed, showing consumer appetite for convenient and secure services for their ‘always with me’ device,” adds Alastair Lukies, chief executive at Monitise.

“The new joint venture will leverage the extensive retail experience of Charles Dunstone together with Monitise’s proven world-class, bank-grade mobile technology,” the official announcement continues. “Monitise’s services are used worldwide, with Monitise Europe providing access to its technology to more than 55% of the UK retail banking market; Monitise is also a key partner of Visa Inc, the world’s leading global payments technology company.”

“In addition, Best Buy Europe will not only become the first retail partner but also make an investment in the venture as part of its belief in the growth of mobile commerce over the coming years.”

“Retailers need to be at the forefront of how consumers are using technology,” says Andrew Harrison, chief operating officer of Best Buy Europe. “And so we are really excited to be the first retail partner of the Mobile Money Network. We have 800 stores in the UK but can now open up another 60m plus mobile phone based virtual storefronts through this venture.”

“The Mobile Money Network will make further announcements over the coming weeks and is already working with a large number of high street brands and financial service providers to join this win/win network,” the announcement concludes.

Monitise signed up to work with Visa on its series of trials of DeviceFidelity’s microSD format NFC device in February 2010. In October, it announced it had integrated the DeviceFidelity technology into its Mobile Money Manager technology platform, used by 250 financial institutions around the world, enabling it to include support for mobile Visa payWave contactless transactions.